Final Project Evaluation

When it comes to looking over nearly four months of the photography lesson, I'd say that my progression levels have occurred extremely fast. I began the subject with no experience in the photography world, just a huge passion for it and determination to excel my amateur photographic skills into professional ones. The ten formal elements of photography were what we started with, to broaden our knowledge on what exactly it is that's used in a picture to make it eye catching and appealing to a viewer. 

My favourite formal element would definitely have to be colour, because this is a key feature in a photograph to make it fun and entertaining. The most uncomplicated and boring object could be photographed, but if it's filled with colour it automatically appears as an amusing piece of photography. I also found pattern to be an interesting formal element, because it meant that I went around the college campus looking for interesting structures that I wouldn't ususally pay attention to. That's something that I love about photography; I've been looking for objects and features around the campus to photograph that include the formal elements that I wouldn't usually notice. It's amazing what we dismiss.

Completing the work diaries, image banks and definition posts for every single formal element became challenging the more I done it, because I felt that it became repetitive when doing it. However I managed to complete everything to the best of my ability, being sure to spend a decent amount of time on each task in order to fulfill them effectively as I didn't want to go back to them later on and improve them when I could just finish them to a good standard the first time around. For these three tasks, I found them in the end to be efficient for a photographer, as it meant I was able to study images online that included a certain formal element to inspire me with what type of pictures I could take to cover this feature. Doing a work diary meant I was also then able to evaluate what went well during a shoot along with what I could improve, so I was always on top of my progress and aware of what I had to do different. 

I wasn't too keen on the physical experiments and computer experiments that I had to complete for this photography unit simply because my mind went blank most of the time when trying to think of what to do. My computer experiments weren't all that great, only a few, so these would be what I'd improve or spend more time on in the future. I also could have done so much better with my physical experiments if I spent more time on them.

The autumn walks that we went on during the autumn weeks were my favourite lessons during photography because it enabled me to gather an assortment of good quality pictures portaying autumn colours, journey and I also managed to capture more photographs of the back of peoples head to add to that certain collection on my blog. This was part of our development work which I done to increase my skills in photography. Autumn colours are my favourite, along with the season, so I really enjoyed both walks. It was nice to not spend a shooting session on campus, which is also why I quite liked working in the photography studio aswell.

In the photography studio, I shot a lot of contrasting pieces. I also done some of my Mapplethorpe inspired photographs in there aswell which I enjoyed doing. This was another part of my development work. It was amusing to experiment with different coloured backdrops and use people as models rather than objects/features outside. After doing some studio work, I felt extremely inspired by artists such as Anne Geddes, Solve Sundsbo and Nick Knight etc (part of my photographer reasearch) to perhaps throw photography shoots like they do. I looked at photographers work that inspired me for my project and found that working in the studio was one of my main favourite things to do. All of the photographers in my photographer research take pictures that include a vast amount of colour and pattern along with some form, shape, tone, reflection and line elements to produce effective pieces of work. I aim to take at least one photograph that's at the standard of their work, because that would be a large improvement for me and my work and it'd support my progress.

I really feel as though I've improved drastically in photography considering I began the year with no experience. It's most certainly lived up to my expectation of it being enjoyable because I've always had a passion for this topic, just never the chance to study it properly. I'm enjoying the lesson an extreme amount and look forward to future lessons and future tasks when tackling more photographic skills. 

Connecting Essay 5

Internet Photograph

This is the online photograph that I found that links with my own photograph down below. This picture is of a necklace that consists of a variety of rainbow colours. The female is wearing a white t-shirt which allows the bright colours on the piece of jewellery to stand out. The texture of the feathers looks fluffy and soft which gives this piece of jewellery a less harsh effect and also comes across as more childish than a more sophisticated piece of gold/silver jewellery. 

My Photograph

This is my own photograph. This is a close up of my necklace  which effectively portrays the formal element colour. It could also represent pattern as there's a consistent pattern of curved rectangles containing two different coloured disks. I really like the colours in this piece of jewellery because it only has four different shades which avoids the necklace from looking cluttered with a random variety of colours. 

The Connection

These two pictures are not 100% identical, but still have a wide variety of similarities that connect them to one another. Both pieces of jewellery consist of the same colours, these being yellow, orange, beige and lime green. They are both also quite childish pieces of jewellery because the colours aren't mature as golds and silvers that older women would wear, so it's evident that these kind of necklaces would be worn by teenagers; in my opinion. In the internet photograph, the neck of the girl is exposed which isn't the case in my picture. I haze zoomed right into my necklace to focus on the shape of the segments and the colours that it consists of. Both images however, present the accessory against a white background as both me and the model in the internet photograph are clothed in the same colour t-shirt. This allows the bold and bright colours to stand out which I think gives both of these images a more effective.  

Connecting Essay 4

Internet Photograph

This photograph is of an assortment of wires all containing a variety of different colours. This formal element allows these wires to look more interesting than they actually are. Colour emphasises an object because these wires look a lot more attractive than they would if they consisted of colours such as black, grey and white; this would be dull, however still portray the formal element tone. All of the wires are tangled up which looks more effective than if they were all in a straight line. They fill the frame effectively so that the photography looks more natural than set up. The formal element lines is also evident in this picture which demonstrates how formal elements are significant in creating a piece of effective photography.

My Photograph

This photography is my own that I captured when on campus shooting colour. The tangled wires mixing together with a variety of colours looks fun and appealing to the viewer as my image also includes many of the formal elements, such as: colour, pattern and line. This photo looks a lot more attractive than what it  actually is; wires. Wires are dull and boring whereas because these contain multicolours they look a lot more interesting. This whole image fills the frame so I have used the space of the frame effectively, even though I took this image at the beginning of the term. 

The Connection

The connection between the internet photograph and my photograph is clearly evident when looking at both of these pictures. They both include a variety of coloured wires which are formed by colour and lines; two out of the ten formal elements. I believe that my composition is just as good as the internet photograph's composition because I have completely filled the frame with the coloured wires rather than taking the picture in a way that you can see just a huddle of wires. As there as dark areas and shadows buried beneath the wires in both pictures, this means that both of these photographs provide a three dimensional approach. In both images there's no sign of the pavement beneath the wires, only slightly in the bottom left hand corner of my photograph, but this would count as a connection as it's evident that both pictures have been filled wit the main subject. The colours blue, red, yellow, green and white are found in both photographs so they both consist of more identical colours than opposites. Orange is found in the internet photograph and purple is found in my photograph. Both images look interesting and eye catching because they come across as just a combination of squiggly lines which is intriguing for some viewers. 

Connecting Essay 3

Internet Photograph

This is a simplistic capture of a group of flowers with almost equal shaped petals to compliment one another. Selective colour has been used in this photograph to enhance the colour of the actual flower itself. The colour of the petals are a pastel shade of purple which is light and soft to provide this picture with a sense of tranquility as it doesn't scream at the viewer when they look at it, they would most likely just focus on the colourful areas as these are what stand out against the rest of the black and white background. The overall photo has been beautifully framed because there's colourful flowers from left to right, insted of large blank areas that are just wasted space. Selective colour enables a viewer to focus on the main points of the image, as when choosing a bunch of flowers it's the petals and colours of them that attract someone rather than the green stems and leaves that are just there to support and surround the key feature.

My photograph

I believe in this photograph of mine, I have applied the selective colour tool effectively in order to bring out the bright beauty of flowers. They exhale a bright neon pink shade which can certainly draw someone's attention. Not all of the flowers are one block of colour, they include the formal element tone which also portrays their form which is another one of the formal elements. The formal elements in this piece as a whole construct a well thought of piece of photography. The selective colour tool enables a certain aspect of a picture to stand out against the rest, and in this piece I have accurately performed this technique as there's not one piece of a flower missing it's bold colour. Therefore, as a first attempt at selective colour I believe that my piece was successful.

The Connection

The connections between my photograph and the internet photograph is evident through just looking at them both. They both include the print technique selective colour, however not the same colour has been selected. The flowers I took a picture of are pink, and the flowers in the internet photograph are lilac. These however are colours that are both associated with girls so both images have that romantic edge. Both groups of flowers look beautiful and healthy and both pictures are also framed well, however the internet photograph is framed more effectively. The right side of my image has wasted space because there's no colour to fill it, just black and white leaves and stems. Overall the connection shared between these two pieces of photography isn't exactly 100% identical however a lot of the characteristics in both pictures are similar which is why I chose these two pictures to connect. 

Pre-completion Evaluation

So far I am on track with all of my work. It has been a challenge to get this far with the large pile of coursework for this subject, however nearly reaching the end is motivation for me to keep going. I made an effective response to all of this units topics and I am pleased with everything that I have done. I made sure throughout every work diary, image bank and definition post that I completed it to my best ability by thoroughly evaluating the pictures instead of just a few sentences. This means that I won't have to go back later on in the year to improve perhaps, my written communication.

I began this project with no knowledge on photography and absolutely no experience other than the fact that I took casual pictures of days out and with my friends etc. However I hadn't had any real professional experience which is why I am happy with my progress so far. It's escalated from not being able to frame pictures properly to knowing what angles to take a picture and how to fill it to be effective.

My favourite part of this unit would have to probably be some of the studio shoots along with the colour and pattern shoots  that we done at the start of the project. I want to apply colour and pattern into my future project as this was the most enjoyable for me and I came out with some decent straight images that looked quite photographic. 

The most difficult task for me was constructing my photo joiner as I found this to be far too technical at the start but eventually got there in the end when I'd captured appropriate pictures. Another topic that was quite challenging was the contrast topic. This was extremely enjoyable at first and I had an assortment of ideas that I applied to my photographs, but considering the amount of contrast pictures we actually had to capture I ended up running out of ideas. 

Photographer Research - Steven Meisel

Steven Meisel

Why I've chosen him

I've chosen Steven Meisel as my fifth photographer because his photographs range from unique and fancy to simplistic and stunning. His composition is always accurate as there's never any wasted space in his pictures. He also uses a variety of different formal elements such as colour, form, tone, pattern and texture etc. He's an adventurous photographer and isn't afraid to try new things for different pictures. His photographs always consist of gorgeous models dressed in either wacky or elegant clothing along with bold or subtle make up. Steven doesn't just stick to one type of photograph, he experiments with all kinds of different compositions, layouts and techniques.

Biography

Steven Meisel (born 1954) is an American fashion photographer, who obtained popularity and critical acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex. He is now considered one of the most successful fashion photographers in the industry, shooting regularly for both US and Italian Vogue, and lately W. His fascination for beauty and models started at a young age. At that time Meisel would not play with toys, but would instead draw women all the time. He used to turn to magazines like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar as sources of inspiration for his drawings. One of Meisel's first jobs was to work for fashion designer Halston as an illustrator. He also taught illustration part-time at Parsons. Meisel never thought he could become a photographer. He felt that illustration was a thing of the past and found photography as a lasting medium. 

This would have to be one of Steven's more intriguing photographs. The colours do not match in the slightest in this picture however it's these that enhance the uniqueness of the overall outcome. It is evident that this model has her own complete style, and the materials of her collar and pillow looks extremely inviting. The fluff could suggest that she is rich as her overall outfit looks quite pricey. The shade of her face in general demonstrates that this is not a normal photograph because no one naturally has a face that white and icy. This picture could maybe be used as an advertisement for a new clothing range in winter as the fur clothing compliments her cold looking face.

This photograph is quite deep and intense. The make up that the model is wearing is harsh, bold and slightly intimidating. Her head's positioned in a way that she ends up looking directly into your eyes with also a slight grin on her face which completes the intimidating look that she's providing. Also, the way her chin is resting in her hands suggests that she is thinking about something which leaves suspicion amongst the viewers. The dark clothing she's dressed in looks fancy and elegant. The pattern in the clothing is something that effortlessly stands out against the white backdrop which was a good match.

This is one of Steven's more simple pieces of work. The black and white effect creates a relaxed feel to the picture which suits the body language of the model. She's casually sat down on a floor at ease looking into the camera, with no expression on her face yet she looks comfortable. The fact that she's dressed in nothing but jeans and a hat could perhaps come across as a tease. The main formal element that this picture consists of is tone and form, which most black and white images contain.

This is one of my favourite pictures of Steven's. First of all, I like how the backdrop isn't one block of colour, it looks as though it's been slightly crumpled and therefore creating more of an edgey touch to this image. The fruit in her hand is the only addition to this picture that includes colour; this makes it stand out against the rest of the photograph. The model's wearing some sort of black item on her head which looks abnormal and different. This links to the usual odd looking vouge front covers. Most of them include a model who's had an extremely over the top make up that he or she would never actually go out in.

How he's influenced me

Steven has influenced me to definitely focus on the make up of models. He encourages me to construct a whole shoot with only one model, making them pose in a variety of ways and adding my own accessories to the picture as a whole. I'd like to attempt my own picture for a Vogue magazine and Steven has influenced me with wanting to do this, so perhaps I will get a better chance of this in a future project.

Summary

Overall this amazing fashion photographer is an extremely successful man with a collection of amazing photographs. He pushed himself to achieve what he set out for himself and reached those goals by becoming one of the most successful fashion photographers in the industry. His work is eye catching along with attractive, intriguing and well constructed.

My Top 40 Photographs

Robert Mapplethorpe Notes

Below are some facts that I researched of Robert Mapplethorpe along with some notes that I took down when watching the video on him and his photography.

Facts/Information

• Born in 1964 in New York and sadly died in 1989 of aids.
• He went to the prat institute of art, where he was introduced to photography. He met Patti Smith who became a lifelong friend. She's a singer/songwriter who lived with Robert Mapplethorpe for a while, just as friends, in the early 70's.

• Robert Mapplethorpe is known for his portraits that are virtually all in black and white.
• His work has been used on album cover.
• He does private portraiture for people.
• He'd target a rich person with no charge unless he wanted the picture. 
• He done some commercial work.
• Controversially, he did document manhattans gay community, which is what Mapplethorpe was a part of. This work got him in trouble at times and some of his exhibitions had been closed down and he'd go to court because of the question "is it pornography or art?"
• He denies that he set out to shock, and says that it was more of a selfish matter as it's just somethin that he wanted to do, 
• Mapplethorpe was brought up as a Catholic but he never came out to his father about his sexuality. He came out to his mother.
• Went to Sunday Church.
• Arranges things in Catholic style e.g. the room he'd shoot in.
• Religion has an influence on his life, even though he isn't really religious.

• Mapplethorpe photographed a very interesting set of flowers. It was the second biggest seller in the art galleries and he only did it to make money. His stylist would choose the flowers and he would just photograph them in his own style.

• His portrait style is unbelievably good, very simple, nothing complicated, with soft lighting and fantastic composition.
• He worked in a pre-digital age.

Notes that I took down when watching the video on him

• Mapplethorpe is Americas most controversial photographer. 
• His work has transformed the face of fashion photography.
• He figures that he can make a large sum of money by packaging his slick photographs as art. He knows where the money is and he knows how to achieve it.
• His work these days is most likely to be found in museums; London museum. He's occupied the number one spot.
• It's a mistake to see him as chronicling a generation.
• The content of his photographs are that provocative that he's bridged the gap between shock and acceptability.
• He portrays his models as powerful and arrogant; he thinks that he really captures people.
• Mapplethorpe sets the tone; cool and a bit on the surface.
• He spent his childhood in Floral Park and comes from Suburban America which is a safe environment and a good place to originate from, and leave.
• At 16 years of age, Mapplethorpe started art school training and moved to Brooklyn. 
• He's always exploratory, never bitter.
• He helped Patti build confidence in her work; Mapplethorpe was an extremely encouraging friend.
• He first started taking pictures with polaroid cameras.
• The first portrait that he took was of Patti Smith and he didn't make anyone do anything that they wasn't comfortable with. 
• Gallery charges up to $15000. 
• Usually uses friends as models. 
• Mapplethorpe was always photographing the life that he lived; gay sexual nature.

Work Diary - Mapplethorpe Location

Evaluation

Capturing pictures that replicated Robert Mapplethorpe's work was a challenge at it's finest. I went on location around campus and chose a variety of different backgrounds to locate my models in front of in order for me to produce photographs that were inspired by this famous American photographer. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't too difficult either. I successfully took a variety of different pictures that looked similar to Robert Mapplethorpe's work by making the subjects pose and most importantly, look unhappy. I asked them to turn their bodies and face their heads in different directions to enable me to create pictures inspired by Mapplethorpe's that looked identical in pose. The one thing that I probably didn't feel comfortable with was the fact that I wasn't able to dress and style my models beforehand to allow me to capture the best possible remake of his work. I would have given my model's wacky hairstyles and possibly added props to the picture e.g. holding a stick or a pen or sitting on a large chair perhaps.

I really feel like I've successfully captured Mapplethorpe through this picture. Often in Mapplethorpe's photography he brightens the face of his model to allow it to stand out against the rest of the dark background. Here, the only bright sector would be Geroge's face and neck making him look slightly ghostly, mysterious and suspicious at the same time, which is what I like. The black and white effect makes this photograph look serious along with George's blunt facial expression. It's common in Mapplethorpe's photography that his models look  

I feel as though this picture could have been improved in so many different ways. First of all Grace has a smile on her face which isn't the expression that most of Mapplethorpe's models have. Furthermore, the background I positioned her in front of was pink which perhaps is too bright of a colour when using Mapplethorpe as inspriation. It probably would have been appropriate if I'd used a grey background instead. These minor adjustments could have made this photography successful.

Progression

If I was to reshoot this topic and improve the quality of my photographs I would probably plan my shoot the night before so that I was prepared in what style of pictures to take. Although I feel as though him being my inspiration was evident in my straight images, I still know that I could have done a lot better. Next time I'd do more research into Mapplethorpe's portraits and try my best at attempting a copy of his work. I am aware that my photographs aren't supposed to be identical, however I'd want to make my version as similar to his as possible because I'd then feel as though the shoot was more of a success.

Work Diary - Mapplethorpe Studio

Evaluation

Using the photography studio to take photographs that Robert Mapplethorpe had inspired was definitely a positive aspect. During this shoot, I was able to use a block colour background in the background of the photograph's subject. I could also use the lights to create darker and lighter areas of the subject's face. This was a main element of the shoot in order to capture picture's that looked dark in the background and light in the foreground. I used a black backdrop in all of my straight images because I felt that this was a more appropriate colour to use considering Mapplethorpe's images include no colour. Although he was my inspiration for this shoot, I didn't find it very interesting. All I seemed to be doing was guiding those who were in my pictures to perform different actions or poses and for me this wasn't as interesting as previous shoots. I ran out of ideas and had to improvise my pictures hoping that they'd have some form of inspiration by Mapplethorpe in there somewhere. This was definitely a negative, however I was a lot more impressed by the studio shoot than the location shoot of Robert Mapplethorpe.

For me this was the most successful picture from the shoot. I put a black and white effect on the orginal image and then altered the curves and levels. this meant I could darken the background and make George's face a lot brighter as I noticed in Mapplethorpe's portraits that the faces of his models are often bright and white. George's moody expression also adds to the seriousness this picture exhales. Most of Mapplethorpe's models have no expression and rarlely look happy which is what inspired me.

This is the original version of the picture that I took of Alex. I left this one in colour without putting a black and white effect on it and therefore think that this was the picture with the weakest quality. In my opinion it looks more like I've been inspired by Mapplethorpe with the black and white effect which can be found in my straight images.

Progression

To escalate my photographs into more professional pieces, I'd want to next time plan the shoot beforehand so that I wasn't on the spot with ideas in the studio. I may also experiment with the white background instead of just the black one to make my photographs less harsh and dark. Mapplethorpe didn't only use a black backdrop, he also used a white one which is why I'd like to attempt this in future. It could make my images a lot more exposed, as the dark features and costume on the model would stand out instead of blending in. Examples of this have been demonstrated below.

Work Diary - Location Contrast 2

Evaluation

I must admit, doing this shoot again was quite difficult. I'm not sure if I preferred the first shoot or the second, because I felt as though my options were limited with taking pictures on the second shoot as I found myself wanting to capture similar images to my first shoot. For this lesson we went around the campus again to try and improve our straight images from the previous location contrast shoot. I ended up with some successful photographs in the end, and felt that these were made to look a lot more appealing with photoshops wonderful tools. The contrast were evident in every picture and I took more where the page was split, as in the contrast would be sharing half of the page each as though there was a line going down the middle separating the two contrasts. I ended up with some successful pictures even if I did struggle with not taking the same style of photo as last time.

This was the most successful picture that I capture during this shoot because I think that the contrast is clearly evident. I deliberately positioned the leaves in a way that there was a bundle on one side with hardly any on the other side so that one portion of the frame contained leaves whilst the other contained only pavement. I liked editing this with the curves aswell to make the picture more dark an defined.

This was the worst photo that I took when capturing contrast on location for the second time. This picture is pretty pointless really, the bin doesn't look very straight in the picture and overall it's just an unattractive photograph. The colours of the bin and the brick wall contrast, however it would have probably been a lot more successful if the bin was completely blue instead of having a gap where the bin liner is on show.

Progression

Doing a contrast shoot on location is always a lot more enjoyable than doing it in the studio. There's so many grounds to cover and so many different things outside that contrast with eachother for example, car colour. If I was to redo this shoot a third time I would perhaps capture pictures of cars and go to the car park in order to find different images. I ended up staying around the same area on the second shoot which was a downfall for the quality of my photographs. I'll make sure to cover a lot more grounds next time and take as many pictures as possible as you can never have too many. I have included a few images that have been captured on location that inspire me.

Work Diary - Studio Contrast 2

Evaluation

I really enjoyed being able to do this shoot a second time. When I used the studio the first time round I used colourful backgrounds. For this shoot I made sure that I used darker backgrounds to create more contrast. I created contrast in the studio by using just one person and creating a shadow on his face so that the lighted part of his face would cotrast with the darker side of his face; I found this to be very intriguing and enjoyable to create as it took a few attempts to capture the right kind of picture. I didn't take many photo's for this topic which was a shame because the choices for my straight images was limited however I did find the overall outcome of the studio contrast shoot 2 to be a success.

Likewise with my first studio contrast shoot, this is a similar one to the previous successful photograph that I analysed. It was successful because it clearly portrays a contrast; happy and sad. I also prefer here the black background because it allows their faces to stand out which makes the contrast a lot more evident. The studio version of this image looks a lot more professional than the one I captured on campus which is why it's one of my favourite.

Although it can be said that the contrast here would be Josh with one eye open and one eye closed, I don't think that it's a very good piece of photography. Nothing else on Josh's right said has changed except for his shut eye; the contrast would have been much more evident if perhaps one half of his lips and nose had changed too and not just his eye. He also hasn't been positioned directly in the centre of this picture so it looks slightly out of proportion.

Progression

By improving my pictures and reshooting them I think it is vital that I put some black and white effects on them next time. If I was able to dress the subjects of my photographs I would love to dress one in black and one in white because this would create an extremely evident piece of contrast. Overall I believe that my contrast shoots have been a success and if their were any changes I'd make to them they'd be minor. I think for just being able to do contrast in the studio and on campus I have done pretty well. Below are two pictures including a black and white effect to demonstrate just how well this effect portrays contrast. The second picture is also one that covers my idea for wanting to dress two people up in different coloured clothing.

Straight Images - Studio Contrast 2

Straight Images - Location Contrast 2

Straight Images - Mapplethorpe Studio

Straight Images - Mapplethorpe Location

Image Bank - Robert Mapplethorpe

Robert Mapplethorpe is a simplistic American photographer who focuses plenty of his images around the gay community. He took an assortment of photographs portraying people's nudity which some viewers found to be uncomfortable, whilst others found it magnificent. His vast, provocative, and powerful body of work has established him as one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. Robert Mapplethorpe is known for his sometimes controversial large-scale, highly stylised black and white photography. 

This is one of Robert's more lightly lit pieces of photograph. A lot of his pictures are in front of a black backdrop, but this one stands out from the others because it's less bold and features himself too. Robert Mapplethorpe does his own self portraits, because he was catholic and gay and never came out to his father so would use his own photographs to explore his identity. 

Here I like the contrast that is clearly evident between the different races of human faces.  The faces being both male means that Robert Mapplethorpe has captured the gay community effectively as he has also placed them both in a close proximity.   

This photograph is intriguing because the black backdrop blends in with the woman's dark piece of clothing so it looks as though her ghostly complexion is floating in the middle of the screen. Her face and neck has been softened to create a more feminine touch to the image.